"The H.P. board just made the worst personnel decision since the idiots on the Apple board fired Steve Jobs many years ago," Ellison wrote in an email to the New York Times. "That decision nearly destroyed Apple and would have if Steve hadn't come back and saved them."

He added, "In losing Mark Hurd, the H.P. board failed to act in the best interest of H.P.'s employees, shareholders, customers and partners." "The H.P. board admits that it fully investigated the sexual harassment claims against Mark and found them to be utterly false."

The NYT's Ashlee Vance writes that Hurd "often" plays tennis at Ellison's house in Silicon Valley, (presumably) even as the companies have become increasingly competitive following Oracle's acquisition of Sun.